Circumstances of Disappearance
Hill was reported missing by her mother, Jeanette Randall, on July 18, 1980, two days after her 22nd birthday. She had been living at 2808 W. Third St.
Hill was entered into the National Crime Information Center as a missing person. No record of her has been found.
Her apartment was located next to Bud's IGA, now known as the West-Side Market. Julie's apartment was left unlocked, food was still cooking, her dog was left by itself, her purse was still there, and no notes were left to indicate what had happened. No trace of Julie has ever been found.
Julie's apartment building was razed in 1987.
In May of 2004, search warrants were served at 1106 Hammond Avenue in Superior and at 215 West Ninth Steet in Duluth. The Duluth address belongs to Donald Louis Bloomer who was Julies boyfriend for several years and the last person to see Julie. Donald has lived at the same address since 1976. During a police interview, Bloomer confessed to shooting Hill at 215 West 9th Street in July, 1980.

More than two decades after a Duluth woman disappeared, her ex-boyfriend was charged Wednesday with her murder. Authorities said Donald L. Bloomer described shooting Julie May Hill in his Duluth house in 1980 and then burying her body outside the city.

Meanwhile, investigators were digging at Bloomer's Duluth property and trying to identify several other women whose pictures were found during a search of his house.

Asked if authorities were considering whether Bloomer had been involved with other missing women, Police Lt. Timothy Hanson said: "We're looking at all of the property we came across in the house and keeping an open mind about anything that may have happened. We're looking into other possibilities.

"Right now he is not a suspect in the disappearance of any other women," Hanson said.
He said it was standard procedure "to wonder what else a person might have been involved in. And in this case we want to make sure we're not missing anything."

Bloomer, 57, was charged with second-degree intentional and third-degree unintentional murder in the death of Hill, who was 21 when she disappeared. St. Louis County District Judge Terry Hallenbeck set bail at $125,000.

Duluth police recently took up the Hill case after some of her relatives approached them with renewed suspicions about Bloomer. Although Hill's family had contacted Duluth police periodically since 1980 to check on developments, "This is the first formal investigation," Mark Rubin, assistant St. Louis County attorney, said Wednesday.

Bloomer, a contract newspaper carrier until he was fired this week, was led into court with his legs shackled. A criminal complaint said he called the shooting an accident.

In the complaint, Hill's family members and a friend said Bloomer abused her during the three years before her disappearance. Duluth police records show reports of three domestic disturbances and an assault in the late 1970s.

Jacqueline Heikkila said Hill, her sister, talked about abuse and tried repeatedly to leave Bloomer."On one of these occasions, Jacqueline said Julie was crying and upset and telling her mom that Donald Bloomer was hitting her and she didn't know what to do," the complaint said.
Hill tried leaving Bloomer a couple of times, but told a friend, Kim Leach, "Donald would track me down and force me to come back."

Heikkila told authorities that Bloomer was digging up his yard around the time Hill vanished. "Jacqueline said she went to Donald Bloomer's house with her mother a few days after Julie disappeared and the hole was filled in and there were no dirt piles in the yard," the complaint said.
After Hill's relatives appealed again this year to police for help, investigators interviewed Bloomer in late May. During the first two interviews, he said Hill had talked about leaving the area "and described her as a wanderer," the complaint said.

He began a third interview by saying he shot Hill on the morning of July 4, 1980.
He said that they had been planning to go camping and that he put a loaded handgun into a backpack. He said he later removed the gun from the pack and was looking at it when Hill walked down the stairs, startling him, and he pulled the trigger. She was shot once in the head, the complaint said.

Bloomer told police he was haunted by what Hill had said to him just before he shot her."The defendant said that her expression changed from a smile to perhaps shock and she said to him, 'You're looking at me funny,' " according to the complaint.

Bloomer allegedly told police that he wrapped her body in carpet and drove on Hwy. 2 past Floodwood, about 40 miles from Duluth, where he buried her.

He recently spent two days trying without success to locate the place for investigators.
But investigators continued Wednesday to search the grounds of Bloomer's Duluth house. Authorities obtained a court order to tear down his house and have been using digging equipment to excavate around it.

Before razing the house, investigators searched it and found a plastic bottle with hair similar in color to Hill's, and pictures of Hill and of "several other women still yet to be identified," according to the complaint.

"Right now we're looking for one body," Rubin said. "We're still looking for Julie Hill's body."

DULUTH SOLVED Julie Mae Hill was first reported missing by her mother on July 18, 1980. Julie was 22 years old and lived at 2808 West 3rd Street in Duluth's West End. Her apartment was located next to Bud's IGA, now known as the West-Side Market. Julie's apartment was left unlocked, food was still cooking, her dog was left by itself, her purse was still there, and no notes were left to indicate what had happened. No trace of Julie has ever been found. Julie's apartment building was razed in 1987. In May of 2004, search warrants were served at 1106 Hammond Avenue in Superior and at 215 West Ninth Steet in Duluth. The Duluth address belongs to Donald Louis Bloomer who was Julies boyfriend for several years and the last person to see Julie. Donald has lived at the same address since 1976. Despite the search warrant, Duluth Police say that Bloomer is not a suspect at this time. According to local news reports, Hill and Bloomer had a "rocky relationship" which included "several domestic abuse incidents". The Ninth Street address has since been razed due to unsafe structual conditions. Police are asking anyone who knew Julie May Hill or can remember the last time they saw her or have any other information to call the Violent Crimes Unit at 218-730-5050.

Details of Disappearance
Hill was reported missing by her mother on July 18, 1980. She disappeared from her hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, leaving behind her two Doberman pinscher dogs, her purse and all other belongs, and food cooking on the stove in her apartment. Hill did not leave a note; it appeared as if she'd stepped out of the apartment and expected to be back within a few minutes.
Police searched two addresses in Duluth, one in 200 block of west Ninth Street and the other in the 1100 block of Hammond Avenue, in the spring of 2004. Both of the addresses are owned by Donald Bloomer, whom Hill was dating at the time of her disappearance. She had lived with him at that location, but had moved out shortly before she vanished. Bloomer confessed to causing Hill's death after the searches commenced. He admitted to shooting her to death on the day she disappeared, but said it was an accident. He said he buried her body in the woods west of Floodwood, Minnesota near the St. Louis-Aitkin county line.
Bloomer has been charged with third-degree murder in connection with Hill's presumed death. In November 2004, Hill's family sued Bloomer for Hill's wrongful death. They are asking for $50,000 in damages. Bloomer is awaiting trial on both the criminal and civil charges. Hill has never been located, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved. Her mother died in 2003; the rest of her family continues to search for her.